Jackson tells Empire, "It's going to be about ten minutes shorter than 'Fellowship' was. So it's going to be officially our shortest Middle-Earth yet… [It] is about two hours and forty minutes at the moment."

The credits sequences and certain visual effects are still to be added, which will slightly increase the theatrical run time. There's much speculation about how expensive Jackson's expanded trilogy is going to be. (Comic-Con video here; THR talked to Jackson.)